Control

Control is a demanding Action Adventure title that stresses both the CPU and GPU, and the measured results for the AMD Ryzen 5 5600 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT reveal a configuration that is well-balanced but ultimately limited by its graphics card at higher resolutions and by its processor at the lowest settings. The data, drawn from 1080p, 1440p, and 4K benchmarks across Low, Medium, High, and Ultra presets, shows a system that delivers smooth performance in most scenarios but requires careful settings management for 4K gameplay.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial, clearly demonstrating the increasing load on the GPU as pixel count rises. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 100.3 FPS at 1920x1080 to 78.6 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 21.7 FPS, and then further down to 54.2 FPS at 3840x2160. This scaling pattern confirms that the RX 7700 XT is the primary bottleneck as resolution increases, with the 4K High result being only 54% of the 1080p High performance.

The trend is even more pronounced at Ultra settings, where the frame rate drops from 91.4 FPS at 1080p to 68.1 FPS at 1440p and finally to 42.9 FPS at 4K. This 48.5 FPS difference between 1080p and 4K Ultra represents a 53% performance loss, indicating that the GPU’s compute and memory bandwidth are heavily taxed by the game’s highest visual fidelity. Conversely, at Low settings, the scaling is less severe but still notable: 163.5 FPS at 1080p, 123.9 FPS at 1440p, and 81 FPS at 4K. The fact that 4K Low still achieves 81 FPS suggests that even with reduced graphical load, the sheer number of pixels limits the GPU.

The data indicates that 1080p is the sweet spot for this combo, where the CPU can feed the GPU adequately, and even Ultra settings stay above 90 FPS. At 1440p, the system remains playable, but the gap between Low and Ultra settings narrows, showing that the GPU is becoming the limiting factor. At 4K, only Low settings provide a consistently smooth experience above 60 FPS, while Medium and High dip below that threshold, and Ultra falls well below playable rates.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT, built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with a 5 nm process, brings 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 432.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is adequate for Control at 1440p and 1080p, but the 4K results suggest that the 12 GB capacity and 432 GB/s bandwidth are not sufficient to maintain high frame rates at Ultra settings, where the average drops to 42.9 FPS. The GPU’s boost clock of 2544 MHz and game clock of 2171 MHz provide the raw compute power, with 35.17 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, but this is clearly not enough to handle 4K Ultra in this title.

The benchmark results show that the GPU’s performance scales predictably with settings. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 72.1 FPS (163.5 vs 91.4), which highlights the GPU’s ability to handle the game’s effects when not pixel-bound. At 4K, this difference shrinks to 38.1 FPS (81 vs 42.9), indicating that the GPU is saturated at higher resolutions and the settings have less relative impact. The GPU’s 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3316 and PassMark G3D score of 22547 place it in the 73rd percentile of all GPUs, with its nearest rival being the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 at a 0% deltaPct, showing that it is a mid-to-high tier performer.

The Radeon RX 7700 XT’s 54 ray accelerators and DirectX 12 Ultimate support are relevant for Control’s use of advanced rendering techniques, but the measured FPS data suggests that rasterization performance is the dominant factor. The GPU’s texture rate of 549.5 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 244.2 GPixel/s are high, yet they are not enough to overcome the demands of 4K Ultra, where the average frame time would be over 23 milliseconds, leading to noticeable stutter.

How This Combo Ranks

In the overall ranking of tested combinations for Control, this particular pairing of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600 and AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT holds the 683rd position out of 1636 combos. This puts it in the upper-middle tier of all configurations, indicating that it is a capable setup but not a top-tier performer for this specific game. The rank of 683 out of 1636 means that roughly 58% of tested combos perform better, which is a reasonable result given the mid-range nature of both components.

The CPU’s percentile ranking of 79th among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 21765, places it slightly above the AMD EPYC 9554P and Intel Core i7-11700F, but its performance is not exceptional. Similarly, the GPU’s 73rd percentile ranking, with an average score of 30097, puts it in line with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 (0% deltaPct) and slightly ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 570 (-0.2% deltaPct). These relative standings suggest that while the combo is not a leader, it is also not a laggard, and its in-game rank of 683 reflects a balanced but unremarkable performance profile.

The data shows that the combo’s ranking is likely dragged down by the 4K Ultra result, where the system achieves only 42.9 FPS. At 1080p, the performance is competitive, with High settings reaching over 100 FPS, but the inability to maintain high frame rates at 4K Ultra places it in the middle of the pack. This is consistent with the GPU’s 73rd percentile ranking, which indicates that it is a solid mid-range card but not designed for extreme 4K gaming.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600 and Radeon RX 7700 XT deliver strong results across all settings. Low settings achieve an average of 163.5 FPS, which is well above the 144 Hz refresh rate of most gaming monitors. Medium settings drop to 116.3 FPS, High to 100.3 FPS, and Ultra to 91.4 FPS. The 72.1 FPS difference between Low and Ultra shows that the CPU has headroom to push higher frame rates, but the GPU’s rendering load at Ultra brings the average down. At 1080p, even the most demanding preset remains playable, with the minimum frame rate likely staying above 60 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance degrades as expected. Low settings still provide a smooth 123.9 FPS, but Medium drops to 84.7 FPS, High to 78.6 FPS, and Ultra to 68.1 FPS. The gap between Medium and High is only 6.1 FPS, suggesting that the GPU is becoming the limiting factor at this resolution. The 4K results are more challenging: Low settings achieve 81 FPS, Medium drops to 59 FPS, High to 54.2 FPS, and Ultra to 42.9 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the weakest in the dataset, nearly 20 FPS below the 60 FPS target, making it unsuitable for smooth gameplay.

The overall trend shows that the combo is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where it can maintain high frame rates even at Ultra settings. At 4K, only Low settings provide a consistently smooth experience, while Medium and High are marginal, and Ultra is not recommended. The data reveals that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, while the CPU’s performance becomes relevant only at 1080p Low, where the frame rate approaches the limits of the processor’s single-thread capabilities.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600, with its 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture, operates at a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. This processor, which sits in the 79th percentile of all CPUs, provides solid multi-threaded performance with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 18309 and a single-core score of 2584. For Control, which is a well-threaded title, the 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient to avoid CPU bottlenecks in most scenarios, as evidenced by the high frame rates at 1080p Low.

The CPU’s role becomes apparent when comparing the 1080p Low and Ultra results. At Low settings, the GPU is less stressed, allowing the CPU to push the frame rate to 163.5 FPS. This is close to the CPU’s theoretical limit, as its 3DMark single-thread score of 882 and PassMark single-thread score of 3256 indicate a mid-range single-thread performance. At Ultra settings, the frame rate drops to 91.4 FPS, showing that the GPU is now the limiting factor. The CPU’s 32 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth are adequate for feeding the GPU at 1080p.

At 4K, the CPU’s influence diminishes further, as the frame rates are primarily determined by the GPU’s pixel throughput. The 4K Low result of 81 FPS is still decent, but the CPU is not the bottleneck; rather, the GPU’s 432.0 GB/s memory bandwidth is the constraint. The CPU’s 65W TDP and 7 nm process node ensure efficient operation, but its performance relative to rivals like the Intel Core i7-11700F (which has a -0.9% deltaPct in average score) shows that it is a capable but not exceptional processor for this game. Overall, the CPU provides enough headroom for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but it is not the primary driver of performance in Control at higher resolutions.